Leadville - Lake County (LXV)

October, 2003

(Double click pics for full size versions)

With a field elevation of 9927' Leadville is the highest airport in North America.  We flew there on a picture perfect October day at probably the peak of the aspens turning.  There is a restaurant about a mile from the field and Leadville itself is about 2 miles.  Our purpose of the day was only sightseeing so we didn't go into town.  Allegedly the FBO has a courtesy car,  but I didn't ask.

Our route from Boulder took us across Jeffco airspace along the front range to just north of Chatfield Reservoir where we hopped over the "foothills."   Then, west across South Park towards Buena Vista.  Once you clear the front range,  South Park is one giant emergency landingopportunity, if necessary.   The aspens were at peak for color and couldn't be much better.    As I cross South Park,  I'll tune into the LXV frequency of 122.8 and start listening for traffic to get an idea of what's happening.  I also have radio #2 tuned to their ASOS, 118.375, to monitor the winds. 

Once you clear another ridge line on the west side of South Park,  you make a right turn at Buena Vista and start heading up the valley towards Leadville.  A left turn here will take you to Salida.   Flying up the valley is magnificent with mountain peaks above you on both sides.    This is where I'll start to slowly lose altitude for my approach.  However, at 9927',  you don't have to come down very low!  Try to stay to the right side of the valley and I always make a radio call in the blind to announce where I am and what I'm doing.  It's a good way to be aware of other traffic in the area,  especially any coming from the opposite direction.  Hopefully, they're listening and flying the right side, too.  But, I'm always looking, just in case.   Considering the altitude it's easy to think that this airport is perched up on an escarpment resembling something like a land-locked aircraft carrier with shear drops all around.  Actually,  it's in a relatively flat area surrounded by high peaks.  If you're not used to mountain flying, this can be a bit un-nerving which is why mountain flying instruction is a great idea.  But, if you pay attention to your performance info and have a healthy respect for density altitude,  there is nothing very tricky about flying here.

Today, I could hear a couple of other planes doing T&Gs and since the wind was calm, they were using the opposite runway from the one I was going to land on.  About two miles out,  I decided to circle to the west to allow another Skylane to take off and then I entered a left downwind for runway 34 for my landing.  Wind was calm, I used 2 notches of flaps and touched down.   After parking south of the office, I went in for a couple of cookies, bought a Leadville coffee mug and collected Simon & Idgie's official certificate showing that they had landed at the highest airport in North America. 

Remember!  Lean, lean, lean!